Mine To Love (manxman)

7-The Wicked Witch

A/N: There's going to be some very steamy scenes coming up in future chapters (very soon in fact) and I'm trying to decide if I should post them or put them up as private. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think I should do.

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JEREMY

I'm in heaven. I'm supposed to be watching the game playing on Frankie's flatscreen TV but instead I can't concentrate on anything but the arm he's resting on the back of the sofa. If I lean back his fingers brush against the nape of my neck and send exquisite tendrils of awareness through my hungry flesh. The only dark cloud over an otherwise perfect day is the wicked witch in his kitchen. I have no idea what the woman is doing in there since she couldn't even boil water.

A shout from beside me alerts me to the fact that our team has scored again. "Did you see that? He's a legend!" Frankie smiles over at me and I'm enthralled by the gleam in his eyes and the pure, honest excitement that pours from him. His glee is infectious and I find myself smiling back at him.

"Sorry I missed that one, I was lost in my own thoughts." I reply as honestly as I dare. I couldn't tell him the truth. As often as I'd contemplated doing just that, I knew our friendship was golden. I prized it above all else and I didn't want to lose him.

"What?" Frankie's eyes widen in disbelief. "This is a crucial game you need to clear out your mind and concentrate on it." Before I can even see it coming, he has me caught in a headlock and is knuckling the top of my head.

"Frankie." I groan. "Don't mess up my hair."

He chuckles at me but continues to ruffle my hair. "Why? Do you have a hot date tonight?"

I bite my lip as I think about my plans for later. I hadn't told Frankie that I was meeting up with Gordon, a PA from the firm I worked for. He'd been flirting with me for months but he'd finally worn me down to agree to this date.

"Oh. My. God. You do." He pulled back from me and looked at my face. I could feel the blush heating my cheeks and I couldn't meet his eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?" He sounded a little hurt for some reason I couldn't comprehend.

"He doesn't have to tell you every move he makes. Although he doesn't really need to since you're both together almost every hour of every day." Deb's sour voice came from behind us and we both turned to see her.

She was leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed over her ample cleavage. I was often tempted to take a pin to them and see if they'd pop. She was scowling in my direction with a look of distaste.

She was a nasty piece of work and unfortunately Frankie was blind to that. She'd pulled me aside a few weeks ago and told me in a not very nice way to back off and get out of their lives. That wasn't going to happen. But I did worry that she might try to turn Frankie against me in some way. I didn't like her, but she was Frankie's girlfriend and I was resigned to letting him make his own mistakes. Trying to tell him what she was really like could only backfire on me.

"I don't expect him to tell me every move he makes but going out with someone is a big deal, we always tell each other things like that." Frankie sounded like a sulking child and I couldn't help smiling at how adorable that was. Ugh, I have it bad!

"You know what? I have to go and get ready any way. I'll talk to you tomorrow Frankie." I didn't want to go, but I couldn't be in the same room with her for very long. I stood and grabbed my coat from where I'd draped it over the armchair nearest to the door. "See ya." I heard Frankie call my name but I didn't stop,

Our friendship had been getting strange lately. I was getting mixed signals from him. He'd act overly affectionate and use any excuse to touch me, but then he would encourage me to find someone and get laid. Then there was the she devil he was dating.

I banged my head against my steering wheel from sheer frustration. I needed to stop putting myself through this. I needed to move on. But how many times had I told myself that over the years, and when would I listen to my own advice.

Turning on the engine I backed out of his driveway and made the short trip home.

FRANKIE

I didn't know what had just happened. One minute I was playing around with Jer, enjoying how easy it was to be my goofball self with him, and then I'd made the revelation that he had a date.

I felt that odd ache in my chest that I got sometimes around him. Maybe I'm jealous of him spending time with someone new. I've always been possessive of our friendship, from the time we were fifteen and he worked his way into my life.

I'd noticed how he'd stiffened up at the sound of Deb's voice. I wasn't pleased with how she was treating my friend and I was planning to have words with her about it in private. She hadn't been like this when we'd first started dating, or had I just not noticed it then?

"Frankie?" Deb's near screech of my name brought me back to the present.

"Sorry, what?" I assumed she'd said something that I'd neglected to hear.

"I asked if you were taking me out to dinner?" She gave me a pout that was possibly supposed to look endearing, but it only highlighted the faint frown lines on her face.

"No." I answered bluntly. "I'm not in the mood for taking you out after the way you just spoke to my friend." I informed her.

"Your friend?" She started wailing like a banshee. "He sees you more than I do. You tell me that you're just friends but then you both act like an old married couple. You finish each others sentences, you finish each others food. You touch each other way too much for my liking and he watches you when he thinks no one is looking. I think I'm being incredibly reasonable given the circumstances."

I let her words filter through my mind for a brief moment. Is all of that true? I'd never noticed. I'd certainly never noticed him watching me, was Deb just being paranoid?

"I think you should go Deb. I need to think about a few things, I'll drop by tomorrow." Without waiting for her to reply I head for my bedroom and close the door behind me. I hear the front door slam a few minutes later and let out a breath I hadn't realised I was holding.

Early the next morning I went to Jeremy's apartment. I had a key so I let myself in and stopped just inside the doorway. My jaw unhinged and hung open and I was sure my eyes were wide with surprise. Jeremy stood in the hallway in nothing more than a very tight pair of black boy shorts, his hands bracketing the face of a smaller man with chocolate brown hair who was wearing a blue dress shirt and dark slacks. The man moaned and let his hands slip to Jeremy's backside where he cupped the two globes of flesh tightly and ground their lower halves together.

I felt anger bubble up inside of me as I watched the mans hands roam over Jeremy and I wanted nothing more than to use one of my clenched fists to beat him. Jeremy was mine!

Wait, what?

My breathing became shallow as a sudden realisation hit me. I wanted Jeremy for my own. Not as a friend but as a lover. I wanted the freedom to touch him, to hold him and kiss him until he couldn't think straight. I wanted to protect him, to care for him, to love him.

I was in love with him!

My keys fell from my numb fingers to clatter on the floor at my feet. The sudden noise caused both men in front of me to pull away from each other and turn in my direction.

"Frankie." Jeremy visibly paled as he looked at me.

"I-I'm sorry. I should have called. I'll um... I'll talk to you later." I turned on my heel and ran from the apartment. In my haste I'd left my keys on Jeremy's floor, but I was in no state to return just yet. I couldn't face him with this jumble of thoughts and emotions running through me though.

I found myself standing in front of Deb's apartment building and decided the best thing I could do right now was to distract myself. I knew it was taking the cowards way out by pretending that nothing had changed. I was the biggest bastard I knew for using Deb like this and for ignoring how I felt about Jer. But I just wasn't ready to face what it all meant. I wasn't willing to admit that I could be... gay.